CLIPPING
PAINT&PINTURA | Julho2016 | 11
Center. After greeting the newboard, he stressed thework
that is being done by the federation and that he has been
receiving full support from their member unions. “Sitivesp
is one of the unions working alongside the federation, and
Narcisohas been contributinghis great efforts and focus to
itspotentialities.”
President Narciso Moreira Preto gave an objective and
efficient speech. After thanking the new directors for their
contribution, heunderscored theworkdoneby theprevious
board, especially the restatement of Sitivesp’s by-laws and
the improvement of its strategic planning, whichhave been
essential tomaking theentitymoremodern, streamlinedand
focused on itsmembership. “The first visible result was the
hiringofanexecutivepresident,who’scomingto introducea
moreprofessionalculture intheentity’sday-to-daybusiness.”
Narciso also mentioned the importance of utilizing the
structure offered by the trade learning institution Senai,
stressing the painting courses that are part of the union’s
more than 20-year partnership with it. “Sitivesp banks on
professionalization, and for this new stage, we’re going to
continueutilizingall of Senai’s structure toprovide training
courses. Besides the basic courses for painters, we’re now
also offering a trade course specifically designed to train
coatings laboratory technicians, which is the result of joint
efforts undertaken by professionals of our industry and
Senai’sspectacularstructure,allnot tomention thesupport
we’ve received from FIESP president Paulo Skaf, who has
always been ready to cooperate and cater to the demands
of our industry.”
AUTOMOTIVE COATINGS - TRI-COAT REFINISHING
PROCESS
Usingthetri-coatrefinishingprocess ismajormarkettrendto-
day. It involvesabasecoat layer,aneffectcoat,andclearcoat
layer, andhasbecomeagreatpointofdifferenceatcollision
repairshops.SkylackassistanttechnicianRogérioMelo,who
trainsprofessionals touse this refinishingprocess, believes
thatonly50percentof all collision shops inSãoPauloapply
the tri-coat process, and that they are even fewer upstate.
“There’s demand for refinish, and leading auto makers in
Brazil paint some of their cars using the tri-coat technique,
suchasFord, Fiat andVolkswagen,which requires the same
process tobeusewhere refinishing isneeded.”
The tri-coatprocesshasbeenused inBrazil since 1991,accor-
ding toMelo. “The tri-coat repair process has been around
sincethedaysofAutoLatina(a jointventurebetweentheBra-
ziliansubsidiariesofFordandVolkswagen).ForVolkswagen,
itwastheNacrewhite,and forFord, thesamecolorwas
Nevadabeige, butmajorproblemswouldarisewhen it
came to refinishing. Theywereon themarket for only
a short time, but that sameprocessmade a comeback
a fewyears lateron luxuryvehicles, and thosepainters
whoweremoreskilledbegan toengage in the learning
process.”
Currently, most automakers offer tri-coat paint jobs,
andmanycarsuse thatpaintingprocess. Fordprovides
its Fusion and Edgemodels in Siberiawhite, the New
Fiesta inVermont redandCaliforniablue, andEcosport
inSavannahorange. TheFiat 500 isavailable inGioioso
white, while the Volkswagen Cross Fox is offered in
Imolayellow.On theFusion, for example, if refinishing
is needed, then the tri-coat process has to be used
insteadof the conventional process, otherwise visible
color difference defects will arise. The tinting system
used is thesame for theone-coat, two-coatand tri-coat
processes, asnochange isneeded in termsofmachine
settingsor additional equipment.
Themain concerns about using the tri-coat systemare
as follows: not beingable tomatch the car’s color; ap-
plying thewrongnumber of coats; andhaving to redo
thepaint job,which leads to loss of time andwasteof
material. However, Skylack’sassistant technicianassu-
res that it isa simplepaintingprocess, demandingonly
patienceandattention, and thatwithonlyabout eight
hours’worthof training,anypainterhavingexperience
with the traditional refinishing process will learn the
new technique with ease. The tri-coat process needs
a basecoat and two other paint coats to develop the
color. The big secret lies in the process of identifying
thecolors,which, despitebeinga stringent task, isnot
really hard to do. “The painter will bring the car parts
to be painted into the booth, alongwith a few plates
for colormatching.On thefirstplate, he’ll applyacoat
ofpaintandallow fordrying.On thesecondplate, he’ll
apply twocoats, and then threeon the thirdplate, and
soonuntil hefinds the car’s exact color. It’s only abit
moreofapainstakingprocess,but ifthepainter follows
the directions, which are quite simple, hewill find the
right shade.”
Melo says that he has been on the market for years
now trainingprofessionals to use the system, andnot
one body shop that adhered to the process has ever
dropped it. “Difficultiesdoexist,which isusual, but no
onehas ever given it up.”
